MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

is a lifelong lyricist, writer, performer, and producer from Phoenix, Arizona, whose work has been featured in cabarets such as Feinstein’s 54 Below Work in Progress series and Chicago Clock Productions’ Black Joy Festival. She received her BFA in musical theatre from AMDA College of the Performing Arts in May 2020. During the Creating Your Vision workshop at AMDA, they wrote their first musical, Dome 483, which led to them pursue their masters in musical theater writing at NYU Tisch. Maria is a proud member of the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program’s Cycle 31.

Since graduating, she and her thesis partner, Anna Marcus Hecht, produced a staged reading of their musical, MACHA, as part of Spark Theatre’s New Work Series. Along with her GMTWP thesis, she began working on an album exploring religious trauma and self love, and released the first 3 songs as “ain’t no angel vol. i” under her artist persona, malizabeth. This inspired them to continue learning the art of music production, earning their certificate in Music Industry Essentials from Billboard x Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in May 2023, and releasing new music every month that year.

They have spent the past few years in Chicago expanding their skills to include event production, and along with their sibling and fellow musical artist, svnflwrchld, produce concerts and cabarets geared towards uplifting the voices of queer and BIPOC artists. Their events transcend music to include several forms of art, including dance forms like drag & flow, comedy, skits & persona art, and even supporting visual and edible arts like resin crafts, chainmail creations, and vegan delicacies.